Breaking the News...
Title: '''Trades and Double-Crosses '''Players: Heather O'Leary, Michael Donovan, and Elizabeth Maxwell Location: Maxwell Ranch Synopsis: '''So, the ultimatum has been given. But what will the plan to outfox it be? And what qualifies as acceptable risk? ''LOG BEGINS'' Elizabeth Maxwell lays back on the ground, watching the sky and staying quiet. Heather O'Leary looks at Liz, stepping out of the Ranch House, "So, what's going on, dear?" Elizabeth Maxwell glances over to Heather and smiles a little bit. "Hi there. Nothing that I know of… Just enjoying a little time outside." Heather O'Leary nods, "Good…. Maybe another slow night. Seen Donovan around?" Michael Donovan has arrived. Elizabeth Maxwell shakes her head and sighs. "No, I haven't. Heard what was playing on the TV last night, though. They're trying to drag a rise out of him again, with his kid…." Heather O'Leary nods, "Yeah, and this time, they might not want him in trade…. they might want you." Elizabeth Maxwell sighs just a little bit. "That isn't surprising, in the least." Michael Donovan off in the distance somewhere pulls up into the driveway. As he leaves the car in question, he slams the door in a way that might be fatal if he had stuck someone's head between it. Heather O'Leary glances up at the slamming of the door, "Donovan? What did they want? I assume you talked to the Visitors about Sean…. Can we help?" Elizabeth Maxwell glances over to Mike as well, though she speaks to Heather initially. "I guess we find out now…" she glances over more fully, and raises her eyebrows. "So, it pretty easy to guess what they want for Sean?" Michael Donovan scowls at Heather in a way that suggests that it's most likely not Heather that he's mad at. "They want something I'm sure as hell not going to give them," he answers sharply. Heather O'Leary nods slightly, "I see… let me guess… the only thing they want is Liz'Beth?" Elizabeth Maxwell stays quiet at that. Michael Donovan stays silent for an interminably long moment before answering, "Yes." Elizabeth Maxwell glances back at Heather then. "Yep. you called it." Heather O'Leary nods, "It makes sense… From their Point of View…" She sighs softly, "All right, Here is what we can do… Elizabeth doesn't go. I dye my hair, cut it shorter, and I go." Michael Donovan frowns at that, "That's better thought out than my plan was," he admits, since his plan involved a lot of indiscriminate blowing up of things, "But I don't want -anyone-," he looks from Heather to Elizabeth to make doubly sure that young Miss Maxwell isn't intent on playing sacrificial lamb for the evening, "getting caught in the crossfire this time out. This is between me and them." Elizabeth Maxwell sighs a little bit and shakes her head. Heather O'Leary shakes her head, "Mike, you won't get him back without our help… Someone has to act like Elizabeth… Because she sure as hell won't be going…" Heather sighs softly, and shrugs, "We have two choices… We assault the Mothership, and die… or we try something sneaky… My vote is sneaky." Michael Donovan shakes his head, "The thing is that we're up against the woman who secretly assassinated the person who wrote the book on 'sneaky' and put her name on the cover…" Heather O'Leary nods, "But Mike, when did you ever do something sneaky to get your son back? You traded yourself for him, Ham told me what happened the last time they tried this…." She pauses, "You traded yourself, when you could have launched a raid… Someone could have pretended to be you too…" She shrugs, "Diana may be sneaky, but she is not perfect, otherwise, that idiot Bates wouldn't have been able to negotiate the Freaking Horrible Treaty he did. She would have just pulled her troops out of LA, and leveled it from the Air, if she was worried about his Red Dust." She sighs softly, glancing at Elizabeth. Elizabeth Maxwell glances over at Heather and raises her eyebrows. "Yes, she tried to do that. Nearly did except that the captured mothership committed suicide into the weapon that was going to do it." Michael Donovan winces visibly at that, feeling (as the guy in charge) no small amount of guilt in being unable to stop the all-too-human security guards from shooting their all-too-earthly bullets into an all-too-mortal Robert Maxwell, in being unable to convince Robert that his place was with his family and Donovan's place was at the controls. Heather O'Leary nods slightly, "Ok, still, the situation remains… Diana will not let Sean go without having a Starchild…." She closes her eyes, briefly, and than looks at Mike, "So, we either give them one, we attack them, and hope he is where we can rescue them, or we drop the idea, completely. I vote against the third option. We can't give them Elizabeth, even if she volunteers, she won't be going. So, we give them me, or we attack them…. I think I have been around her enough lately to act like her for awhile…" She doesn't mention that Diana would likely kill her, once it is discovered she is not Elizabeth. Elizabeth Maxwell shakes her head. "If we give them you, you'd be killed inside of a day. We can't afford to be sending people into suicide situations…" Heather O'Leary shrugs, "Better me, who volunteered to die for my country, than someone else…." Michael Donovan looks decidedly unhappy with either alternative. "Look, who says we have to give them -anybody-? We can rig this to go in our favor without losing anybody." Heather O'Leary looks at Mike, "Oh?" Elizabeth Maxwell glances over and raises her eyebrows. "Oh? How exactly is that?" Michael Donovan smiles slightly, in the manner of someone dangling on his very last thread of hope. "I call them up. I tell them that I want the exchange to go exactly how it did the last time. Maybe even the same place if that's possible. Lull that scaly witch into thinking that I'm the same boring, predictable guy that she thinks I am…" Heather O'Leary nods slightly, frowning, only having heard the results of the last switch, and how it went down. She wasn't there, and there is no friendly Fifth Columnist, unknown to Diana, to break someone out this time… Elizabeth Maxwell sighs a little bit. "If…" she shakes her head and tries to remember things from a while ago. Michael Donovan's smile gets a bit wider, and perhaps a bit on the uncharacteristically predatory side. "We get our best shooters camped out in the hills. Talos in particular. The way he was picking off people in that LAX raid…" He gets back to the main thrust of the idea. He explains to both of you the details as Heather was not a member of the group and Liz was In Utero at the time, "The exchange was a simultaneous transfer. I went to them at the same time that Sean went back to the others." He gives Heather a serious look, "When you meet him in the middle, I want you to grab him and get him the hell out of the way. That'll be our cue to open fire. If Diana thinks you're Elizabeth, she won't take any chance of damaging you. So if you stay near Sean, you can keep him out harm's way…" Heather O'Leary nods slightly, "Sounds good…" She glances at Liz, smiles a bit, than looks back to Mike, sounding very serious when she adds, "Even if Diana does shoot at me, I'll make sure to cover him… he won't come to any harm." She pauses, "But what if she has Con…" She shakes her head, blushing a bit. Elizabeth Maxwell frowns quietly. "you can be quite certain she has. I'm just remembering something I'd been trying to forget, that happened several months ago. She may know what I look like. If she does, then the trade won't go off." Heather O'Leary glances at Liz, "We do the trade in the middle of the day, the tunnel will be dark… She won't be able to tell who is inside." Michael Donovan nods to Heather, "That's what I was thinking. Sometimes those shades of theirs aren't the most helpful fashion accessory…" Elizabeth Maxwell nods a little. "which works as long as they're willing to do the trade the same way again. And if they don't have any form of night vision type equipment. the one likely to be the first to see and shout that it's a fake, in that instance, is Sean. And if he tells before you're close enough, he'll run back behind laser cover before he can be grabbed." Heather O'Leary shakes her head, "I'll make sure I spend most of my time looking Michael Donovan smirks somewhat at that. "I just kind of hope she buys the fact that I'm giving in, in the first place. I did kinda," he mumbles the rest, "leapacrossthetableandtrytobeattheeverlovin'crapouttatheguyIwassupposedtomeet." Heather O'Leary arches an eyebrow, "Did it make you feel better, beating the… how did you put it, oh yes… everlovin'crapouttatheguy?" She chuckles softly, "Had I been you, the guy would be dead." Michael Donovan takes a deep breath, "The next time I see him, he will be," he assures, not adding the little tidbit about the guy mentioning the delivery of Sean to him in bits and pieces should anything of that nature happen. Heather O'Leary nods slightly, and looks at Liz. Elizabeth Maxwell sighs a little, and shakes her head slightly, starting to slip back away a little bit. She's mostly looking at the ground by now. Michael Donovan looks over at the ranch house. "We should talk about this with the others. I'll make the call as soon as we have everything plotted out." Heather O'Leary nods slightly, "I don't think anyone will object Mike… if that is your fear." Elizabeth Maxwell nods a little bit at that, still frowning. "Doubtful anyone would. /if/ things go as you planned. If they don't…" She sighs. Elizabeth Maxwell glances over to the house quietly. "At any rate, if you want to discuss everything with the others…" She pauses then, and her tone turns quite acidic, for her anyway. "In the meantime, I trust I have 'permission' to go into the pasture and think for a while?" Michael Donovan has been around Elizabeth enough to pick up on acidity when its present. "Elizabeth, look, I…" Elizabeth Maxwell sighs and shakes her head. "Does it even need saying? You're risking everyone you take with you, with that plan. While its been implied that I'm essentially a prisoner here to make certain I don't do anything to prevent it." Michael Donovan frowns severely at the accusation. "If she gets her hands on you, that's it. Once she's sure she has you, she'll raze everything to the ground, Bates be damned. I'm not trying to keep you captive here, but I don't want you rushing into something idiotic either." He clenches a fist and closes his eyes, "Dammit. It would have been a lot easier if she just wanted me. I'd die a million times over for that boy, but I. Won't. Give. Her. You." Elizabeth Maxwell glances over a little bit. "You wouldn't have to anyway. Just make certain that she doesn't have any snipers somewhere behind the exchange site. With a laser pistol hooked up behind my back, the minute Sean was across halfway I could be shooting at her. I'm not exactly incapable of a fallback while under fire…" Michael Donovan half-smirks at that, "I can think of at least three people right off the top of my head who would give me holy hell for even suggesting that to them." Elizabeth Maxwell shakes her head a little bit. "Do not listen to them. The risk isn't even that high, if you think about it. She wants me alive and undamaged. That gives me the advantage for wanting to see her carcass full of blast marks, with her fake face hung up on the wall as a trophy." Michael Donovan takes a slow, deep breath. "I'll think about it," he finally relents, not out to get anyone's hopes up lest an attack of conscience causes him to immediately revert to Plan A. Elizabeth Maxwell tilts her head forward and nods a little bit. "Yes, think about it. And do try to remember that I'm an intelligent being, who will react very badly to idea that I don't have the freedom to decide my own fate. Because if that is the case, my situation isn't really any better than the people under Bates' jackboot." Michael Donovan looks Elizabeth in the eye at what sounds suspiciously like an ultimatum to him (and he should know having received several from people ranging from guerilla leaders to viscous ex-wives). "Look, no one's curtailing your freedoms here, kiddo. You've come along on more potentially dangerous missions than I'd ever admit to your mother's face, and you've handled yourself admirably. Thing is, if Diana gets you, its going to be near impossible to get you back. Security would be impregnable. The Fifth Column's gone to ground ever since we lost Martin. And Diana would be more determined to keep you than she was me." Elizabeth Maxwell tilts her head forward and shrugs a bit. "And that is why I'd be shooting for Diana's head the moment that Sean was too far for them to get him back while under consistent fire. She will not get me." Michael Donovan heaves a heavy sigh, "I'll think about it," he finally says again, seeming quite in possession of the knowledge that he doesn't have much time in which to think. Elizabeth Maxwell nods a little bit. "Please do." ''LOG ENDS''''' Category:Log Category:RATED-PG-13 Category:Donovan Family